KINDNESS NEVER FORGOTTEN

Dear Ann Landers: When I read the letter from the woman in the wheelchair who was handed an umbrella by a stranger, it brought back an old memory.

In 1987, I moved from the South to Kansas City, Mo. I am not physically handicapped, but was trying to recuperate from some devastating personal problems and adapt to new surroundings.

Because of the change in climate, I had looked all over town for an appropriate sweater, with no success. Standing in a checkout line at a Dahl's Supermarket, I noticed a woman wearing the sweater I had been hunting for and asked her where she had found it. After a brief exchange, she took off the sweater, put it on my shoulders and insisted I keep it.

I protested, saying, "I must pay you for this."She replied, "Absolutely not."I was stunned by this extraordinary act of generosity and thanked her profusely. That woman had no way of knowing what her act of kindness meant to an emotionally fragile stranger in an alien environment.

I never saw her after that. How I would like to tell her how much her generosity meant to me. - E.L.B.

Dear E.L.B.: What a sweet story!

Dear Ann Landers: I hope this letter will help someone stop smoking as I did. I celebrate Oct. 22, 1985, as my personal independence day because that was the day I quit smoking for good.

I had a dream the night before that was so vivid and so frightening that when I woke up, tears were streaming down my face. I knew I must stop my self-destructive habit once and for all. I dreamed I was in a hospital dying of lung cancer and my little boy (who was 2 at the time) was standing by the bed crying, "Don't leave me, Mommy!"

That was enough for me. It wasn't easy, because nicotine is as powerful an addiction as heroin. But I did it, cold turkey, and since that day, I have never smoked another cigarette.

Please tell your readers, if you can't quit for yourself, quit for those who love you. - Feeling Great in California

Dear Feeling Great. Lovely.

Gem of the Day: Flexibility is the cornerstone of progress. Progress is impossible without change. Those who cannot change their minds will never be able to change anything.